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Monday, 3 March 2014

A beautiful coming-of-age novel about two sisters on a journey to forgive their troubled mother, with a sheen of almost-magical realism that overlays a story about the love of a family, and especially between sisters.

Therese Walsh's poignant and mesmerizing novel is a moving tale of family, love, and the power of stories. After their mother's probable suicide, sisters Olivia and Jazz are figuring out how to move on with their lives. Jazz, logical and forward-thinking, decides to get a new job, but spirited, strong-willed Olivia, who can see sounds, taste words, and smell sights, is determined to travel to the remote setting of their mother's unfinished novel to say her final goodbyes and lay their mother's spirit to rest.

Though they see things very differently, Jazz is forced by her sense of duty to help Olivia reach her goal. Bitter and frustrated by the attention heaped on her sunny sister whose world is so unique, Jazz is even more upset when they run into trouble along the way and Olivia latches to a worldly train-hopper. Though Hobbs warns Olivia that he's a thief who shouldn't be trusted, he agrees to help with their journey. As they near their destination, the tension builds between the two sisters, each hiding something from the other, and they will finally be forced to face everything between them and decide what is really important.

My thoughts:

There was a bittersweet sadness to this book. It's about loss, death and moving through the stages of grief. In one way or another.

Oliva is 18, Jazz 22. Their mother just killed herself. Their father started drinking. Olivia can smell colors and stuff, and has almost blinded herself looking at the sun. Jazz, thinks she is the only normal one. They are now a messed up family who can't bare to deal with the loss.

The story is told with flashbacks and with the story of course moving forward. It's also told in a letters their mother wrote. The book is about a journey Olivia sets out on, to get her mother's ashes to a special place her mother never dared to go. And Jazz goes after her.

They move through their sorrow, they get angry, they find closure. The journey also take a darker turn, who can you really trust? Something is hidden in the shadows and we get that story too.

I know it sounds like it's so sad, but it was not sad at all. It was life and moving on, the sad part was already over.